Serial Bites: THE VAMPIRE DIARIES, WEEDS, LAST RESORT, ARROW (more!)

Today’s bite-sized serial menu brings news and tidbits from the worlds of The Vampire Diaries, Weeds, Last Resort, Arrow, American Horror Story and Doctor Who. Plus: New Showtime project Conquest and more from the CW’s interest in adapting Battle Royale.

Vampire Diaries EP Julie Plec describes the fourth season as something of a reboot following the surprising conclusion to the third season:

“We were toying with it for a long time and we started season three knowing how he would end season three so we were able to lay out all the groundwork for it really quietly and subtly so it makes sense that this girl is mourning who she used to be and wondering if her parents would still be proud of her and missing her human life before vampires were in it and making this choice between these two brothers and what they mean to her, to take her to that point and to rip the rug out from under her and have everything change is almost like we’re starting over. We’re telling the same series all over again but with a different point of view and a different context.”

“It’s beautiful… I just cried when I read [the script]. [Series creator Jenji Kohan] managed to bring things together in a way that was really satisfying to me. She didn’t make it a ‘happily ever after’ thing, but there was hope in it and there was some sort of benediction.”

Jay Karnes has been cast in a recurring role on Shawn Ryan’s Last Resort. He’ll play the Secretary of Defense. [EW]

Arrow‘s universe continues to grow with the casting of Canadian actor Michael Rowe as Deadshot. He’ll appear in the third episode titled “The Lone Gunman.” [TV Guide] The role may recur and follows the casting of Kelly Hu and China White.

A first-look set photo from American Horror Story Season 2 has been posted by EP Ryan Murphy, who tweeted: “Two of our stars who started shooting today – – the multi-talented Adam Levine and Bloody Face!”:

Doctor Who executive producer Steven Moffat has further refuted the notion of a non-continuity Doctor Who movie. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, he said that while a DW movie could happen sometime in the future, it wouldn’t be a rebooted continuity, not on his watch:

“There isn’t a film. That was all some weird fantasy going on somewhere. Look, we hopefully will do a Doctor Who film someday. It will be absolutely run by the Doctor Who production office in Cardiff. It will feature the same Doctor as on television. It will not be a rebooted continuity. All of that would be insane. So that whole proposal was not true, did not happen. I can say that with authority because, as far as the BBC is concerned, I’m the voice of Doctor Who. So if I say it, it’s true. The BBC own Doctor Who and, for the moment, I run it for them. So I can assure you definitively that was all nonsense — not the idea of making a film, we’d love to make a film, but the idea of a rebooted continuity, a different Doctor. That’s writing the book on how to destroy a franchise. You don’t behave like that with it. Not ever.”

Showtime and Imagine TV are teaming up for development project Conquest, Deadline report. Conquest is a vast period drama that tells the story of Spanish Conquistador Hernan Cortes, who led the Spanish conquest in Mexico, and his clash with Moctezuma II, the last ruler of the Aztec Empire which fell at the hands of Cortes and his men. Conquest is described as “a classic war story about two powerful men and their people ultimately leading to the destruction of the Aztec culture and the men themselves.” The project will be penned by Jose Rivera with Ron Howard to direct.

“We’d love to do it. Hopefully, we’ll be able to make a deal with the producers, and we’ll see where it goes.”

As for their dystopian drama The Selection, currently in development, Pedowitz said he’s hoping for a tone similar to Game Of Thrones/ The Hunger Games:

“The producers and writers have gone back and are re‑scripting [The Selection] we speak. We’ll hopefully see something soon or make a determination whether to go forward. I really wanted a show that had a Game of Thrones/Hunger Games tone, and we hope it’s The Selection. If it’s not, then we will look at another arena to go to in terms of that. Battle Royale comes with a nice cult following, as we all know.”

mr. moffat sure knows how to roll. more people in his position should have the respect that he does for beloved franchises

i havent actually seen the finale yet so this isnt a comment on its content directly, but it is truly a shame what happened to weeds. there wasnt even a thread here on seriable about the season finale or anything. such a shame the show went the way it did. personally I look forward to seeing the rest of it and have high hoped for the fnale but there is no question it got a lot worse after season3, heres hoping the finale is up to the quality the show began with.
its such a shame so many good shows are ending or being cancelled right now. it really seems like a bad time for tv when it was just looking so promising npt too long ago. also i think im cursed cause everytime i find something good/start watching a show it seems to either get worse the next season or get cancelled instead. laem, super lame. weeds, fringe, terra nova, alcatraz,and many more all gone and survivor is on like season 20….da durp de durp ta teetly tum….
i didnt even get a chance to suggest that the site feature “The Almighty Johnsons” (an awesome serialized show with great writing from new zealand which began last year and is in it’s second season there and who’s first season just finished airing on space channel in canada – which oddly agan was going fine there until it aired here and i started watching it, now its cursed….) before reading the other day that it isnt being renwed for a 3rd season despite leaving the story completely unresolved (I hope it is just a rumour). i really wish theyd stop doing this. it should be some kind of law or at least unwritten rule that when a show is going to get cancelled they make a finale episode to resolve the story or something for the people who invested their time in the show and the channel. no one is going to want to watch serialized tv anymore if this keeps happening (and i think its already started), half the time im tempted when a new show is announced here or wherever that i know is seriable to just wait until it’s over one way or the other and if it got to actually end the story then watch it online however many years later and save myself the frustration and the disappointment (and potentially stop th show from being cursed apparently). people are going to give up and turn over to x factor or some rubbish, and the folks who do it to really intense developed shows (FOX as a repeat offender & the almighty johnsons people come to mind) and who do it often are going to end up with more people like me who are fed up and not going to support them any more.
ok done rambling

yay good news everyone! it appears im not as cursed or not cursed in the way that i thought. after being extremely sick for weeks, i finally got up today before noon for the first time in weeks and and behold, i checked wikipedia for some reason and read that it was announced oday that the almighty johnsons were being funded for a 3rd season so perhaps there is hope for serialization after all! hoooooooray!